'Etna' added to I-70 exit signs

Enlarge ImageRequest to buy this photoThe Ohio Department of Transportation recently replaced the Exit 118 signs at the state Route 310 interchange, and they now bear the township's name in addition to Pataskala's.

The Ohio Department of Transportation recently replaced the Exit 118 signs at the state Route 310 interchange, and they now bear the township's name in addition to Pataskala's.

"I wrote a letter to ODOT requesting that the signs be changed because the 310 interchange is in Etna Township," said John Carlisle, president of the township's board of trustees.

Carlisle said he sent the letter in August because it was a mistake by the state not to include Etna on the signs when they were first installed in 1969.

"It probably should have been on there from the day the freeway was built," he said.

Joe Rutherford, deputy director of ODOT District 5, said the signs were within a year of reaching their eight-year life span and state officials agreed that Etna's name should be included.

"We thought the activity in that area warranted a change in the signs on the interstate," Rutherford said, noting the new business parks that have been established in Etna.

ODOT installed three signs on each side of the interstate: one mile and a half-mile before the exit and at the exit.

Rutherford said it cost the state $14,700 to purchase and install the signs, which measure 13 feet wide by 12 feet high.

The new signs meet a federal mandate approved in 2003 with an update to the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices. The mandate requires road and street signs, speed limit signs and stop signs to include larger letters and better reflective materials.

"We needed to upgrade to the new, high-reflective sheeting and would have been replacing them anyway," Rutherford said. "The cost to put Etna on the signs was nominal."